lay in hiding, ready to
again charge desperately upon the German trenches when the word to
advance was given. The ground between the hostile armies was covered
with the fallen. Josh shivered as he contemplated the terrible
spectacle. It would doubtless haunt him for many a day and night to
come. He looked everywhere, not even omitting to glance upward so as to
see what the flying birdmen might be doing; then he handed the
binoculars over to Hanky Panky, who received them eagerly, despite his
sensation of horror.

When Hanky Panky leveled the glasses at the distant line of hastily
thrown up German trenches the first thing he saw was what seemed to be
an innumerable army of men in drab working feverishly to strengthen
their defences.

Already they had tasted of the new-born French enthusiasm, and could
anticipate that much more of the same sort was bound to break loose.
Long years had those fiery Gauls been hugging to their hearts the
thought of revenge for the humiliation suffered away back in '71, when
their beloved Paris echoed to the tramp of the victorious Teutonic
hosts.

They began to believe the day had dawned at last when the shame of their
fathers could be wiped out, and the tables turned on the hated foe.

How Hanky Panky did turn from one point to another and "soak" it all in,
as Josh remarked aside to Rod, impatiently waiting for a second chance
to observe what was going on over there beyond the windrows of the dead.

It seemed as though Hanky Panky could not tear his eyes away from the
amazing sight which fairly fascinated him. As though held in the grip of
a nightmare the boy was staring and muttering to himself. Sometimes his
words signified wonder and awe; then again there was an underlying vein
of compassion in what Hanky Panky said; for his heart was greatly
touched by the sight of all this terrible misery. He could see some of
the forms on the late battlefield moving. He realized that men in
anguish must be calling out for a drink of cooling water so as to quench
their burning thirst. Others were doubtless suffering all sorts of
tortures from the wounds they had received.

To be sure the hospital attendants were doing everything they could to
gather up the wounded. Men bearing the sacred Red Cross, from both the
French and the German sides, were moving about, searching for those in
whom life still remained. Vehicles could also be seen in places,
receiving some of these victims, while the men wit